The academic hospital of the University of Groningen in Rotterdam will begin researching the therapeutic value of marijuana on patients suffering from spastic disorders, according to an August 19 article in De Volkskrant, a popular Amsterdam newspaper.
Fifteen patients suffering from multiple sclerosis will participate in the research study to determine how effectively marijuana decreases muscle spasms. The medical-ethical commission of the hospital approved the experiments earlier this week.
“When marijuana shows to be of therapeutic value, we should work with great dedication to develop it further,” said research professor Dr. J. de Keyzer. Keyzer will head the Groningen study.
There exists clinical and historical evidence that marijuana is effective in treating a variety of spastic conditions such as multiple sclerosis, paraplegia, epilepsy, and quadriplegia. A number of animal studies and a handful of carefully controlled human studies have supported marijuana’s ability to suppress convulsions. A summary of these findings was reported by the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine in 1982. Many of these studies specifically indicate cannabidiol (CBD), a non-psychoactive ingredient of marijuana, to be a potent anti-convulsant. According to the United States government’s premiere marijuana expert, Dr. Mahmoud ElSohly of the Marijuana Project at the University of Mississippi, “CBD [cannabidiol] is famous for [its] anti-convulsant activity.”
Recently, results of a study published in Volume 38 of European Neurology demonstrated that more than 70 percent of multiple sclerosis patients surveyed perceived that using marijuana reduced their spasticity. Researchers concluded: “The … results clearly indicate … a high level of improvement after cannabis for the general categories of pain, spasticity, and tremor. These results are consistent with those obtained in [previous] clinical trials. … The present study, taken together with the content of previous reports, strongly suggests that cannabis may significantly relieve certain symptoms of MS, particularly spasticity and pain.”
For more information, please contact either Paul Armentano or Allen St. Pierre of The NORML Foundation at (202) 483-8751. Copies of the study in European Neurology are available from The NORML Foundation upon request.